


Always Return

by Sierra_Hotel



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Bonding, Brotherhood, Caretaking, Community: wrestlingkink, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, caretaker!Dean, the shield - Freeform, wrestling kink meme fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 10:21:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16763218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sierra_Hotel/pseuds/Sierra_Hotel
Summary: Written for a prompt of the Wrestling Kink Meme: After a few hours by himself, Dean returns to the hotel room he's sharing with Roman and Seth, mentally preparing himself for all the questions he has no answers to yet. When he walks into the room, he's not bombarded by questions and instead finds both Roman and Seth asleep. He's hurt and angry at first, thinking they came back and went to bed without him but after taking a few minutes to look around, he can tell they tried very hard to stay awake and wait for him. Roman's sleeping slumped over from where he obviously was sitting up waiting, Seth's making soft whimpers in his sleep because he didn't want to take a pain pill since they put him to sleep, his sweats have been taken out of his bag and laid out for him, they left him a place on the bed with them.Dean wants nothing more than to snuggle up with them but first he coaxes Roman into lying down and Seth awake enough to get a pain pill into him. Then he changes and takes his places between them. Everything else can wait until morning.





	Always Return

Dean wasn't sure how long he walked the streets after he'd left the building but eventually he ended up at an all-night diner and nursed a cup of coffee for as long as he could before he started getting dirty looks from the staff. He wasn't ready to go back to the hotel, to face his brothers, to hear them ask questions when he couldn't give them any answers. If his head had been clearer earlier in the night, he would have went straight to the hotel and arranged for his own room for the night. All he'd been thinking was that he had to get away from everything and he ended up walking out on his brothers. With all the uncertainly that had been happening around them lately, it was probably the worst thing he could have done. But he did it. 

The only things he'd grabbed on his way out of the arena were his wallet and his key card. There was no way he was walking all the way back to the arena to grab his bags, especially when Roman or Seth probably grabbed them for him and the arena was likely locked by this time of the night. If his brothers had left his bags behind, he would just have to grab them in the morning. 

He still took his time walking back to the hotel. His brothers would want answers. They were probably done letting him avoid talking to them but the truth was: he had no answers to give them. Not the ones they would want to hear at least. He'd tried to settle his thoughts, to figure out what felt so off since he'd returned, but he still had no answers. He knew he was hurting his brothers, especially Seth, by being stand-offish and snappish but he couldn't stop himself.

Finally arriving at the hotel, Dean took the stairs to their fourth floor room to buy himself a little more time. It was still too soon before he was standing in front of their door, staring at the key card in his hand, trying to willing himself to go in and face his brothers. After taking a few deeps breaths, he slid the card through the lock and opened the door.

To walk into a silent room. The only light in the room was coming from the muted television and looking further into the room, Dean could make out the still shapes of Roman and Seth on the bed. They hadn't cared enough to wait up for him, had come back and gone to bed without him. He felt the anger rising up inside him, justifying in his mind all the times he had lashed out at them recently. If they hadn't cared enough to confront him about his actions, obviously they didn't care about him.

He took a few more steps into the room, ready to confront his brothers and really have it out with them, but he paused. The scene in front of him didn't look like two guys who'd gone straight to bed without a second thought to their missing member. It might not look like it to just anyone but Dean knew his brothers well enough to now see the signs that they had waited for him, or at least they had tried. If he had gotten back a little earlier, they probably would have still been awake. Roman was seated, leaning back against the headboard with his head tilted to the side and an open book in his lap. He must have been reading while waiting for Dean. Seth was facing away from the door, curled into a ball, which he only did when he was in pain. Now that Dean was calmer, he could hear the soft whimpering sounds coming from his younger brother and knew Seth had skipped taking any pain pills. They always put him right to sleep and Seth wouldn't have thought twice about not taking any so he could be awake when Dean got back.

Now that the anger had left him, Dean was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed between the two sleeping bodies and go to sleep. But first, he had to take care of his brothers. If he let Roman stay sleeping in that position, he'd be sore all day tomorrow. If he didn't get Seth to take a pain pill, his little brother wouldn't have a restful night's sleep. Dean wasn't used to being the one having to take care of others but when it came to his brothers, he always knew exactly how to help them.

He walked over to Roman's side of the bed, deciding to start with the easier task, and lifted the book off his lap. He made sure to place the bookmark inside so he didn't lose Roman's page. Seth might be their resident drama queen but Roman could hold his own in that department when it came to messing with his books. Roman was already under the cover and a quick peek under them showed Dean that his older brother had already gotten ready for bed as well. That made his task much easier. A little prodding and gentle pushing, a few soft encouraging words in his ear, and he had Roman lying in a much more comfortable sleeping position. All without waking him. 

Seth was going to be more difficult. His younger brother was sleeping on top of the covers so Dean would have to coax him awake enough to swallow a pain pill and get under the covers without waking him to the point where Seth would want to stay awake. The youngest Shield member could be a finicky sleeper on some nights and with Dean's luck, tonight would be one of those nights. At least Seth had also changed from his street clothes into pajama bottoms so Dean didn't have to worry about getting him ready for bed.

Dean retrieved a bottle of Advil from his bag and the bottle of water he knew Roman always kept in his own. It was warm but it would have to do. He stepped over to Seth's side of the bed and popped open the bottle of pills, taking one out and setting it and the bottle of water on the nightstand beside him. He then slid a hand under Seth's neck and lifted gently until his brother was upright enough to drink without choking.

"Seth, I need you to wake up a little," he said softly. He purposely didn't use his favourite nicknames for his brother, hoping Seth's tired brain wouldn't have time to process that it was Dean talking before he drifted back to sleep. "You can go back to sleep in a second but you have to take some medicine, alright?"

Seth hummed, eyes not opening but his lips parted when Dean bumped the Advil against them. Dean held the water bottle to his mouth and let Seth take a small sip, just enough to swallow the pill, then he took it away. He waited for a few seconds to make sure Seth had taken the medicine and once he was satisfied, he laid his brother's head back on the pillow and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Good job," Dean winced even as the words left his mouth. They sounded nothing like him but if he spoke like he normally would, he risked waking his brothers and being forced into the conversation he'd been avoiding all night. Instead of trying to keep Seth wake enough to help him under the covers, Dean just gently pulled the blankets from under him before tucking them around Seth. Now both his brothers were taken care of and Dean could get ready for bed himself.

A quick glance around the bathroom showed him his brothers had prepared for his return. His pajama bottoms were folded on the counter, waiting for him, and all his bathroom stuff was unpacked from his suitcase. It proved to Dean that they had always expected him to come back to them. He got ready for bed as quietly as he could then headed back out into the main room. Neither of his brothers had moved from the positions he'd left them in. It left the middle of the bed, his usual spot, open for him to crawl in and settle for the night.

He was careful as he climbed in between his brothers, not wanting to wake them, and he settled on his side, gently easing Seth closer and wrapping an arm around his little brother. If Seth woke during the night, as he did sometimes if he was having a bad night, his movement would wake Dean and he'd be able to talk the younger man into going back to bed. He'd no sooner pulled Seth into his arms then he felt Roman shift behind him, his older brother's arm mimicking his hold on Seth around Dean's waist. There was no sound, no sign, that Roman had woken and chosen to move positions. He'd probably sensed his brothers were close and had instinctively shifted closer. Dean always blamed it on Roman's overprotective big brother powers.

With his brothers on either side of him, it didn't take long to drift off to sleep. He would still be expected to talk, to confess that he had no idea why he was so wound up lately, but for tonight, they could all rest.


End file.
